Cleat feeding apparatus for boxmaking machines



April 1o, 1962 L. s HAYWARD 3,028,995

-MAKING MACHINES CLEAT FEEDING APPARATUS FOR BOX Original Filed Feb. 25, l1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 10, 1962 L. s. HAYwARD CLEAT FEEDING APPARATUS FOR BOX-MAKING MACHINES Original Filed Feb. 25, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

a l J. RM y United States Patent Oce 3,028,995 Patented Apr. 10, 1962 3,028,995 CLEAT FEEDING APPARATUS FOR BOX- MAKING MACHINES Leroy Stanley Hayward, Morristown, NJ., assigner to Stapling Machines Co., Rockaway, NJ., a corporation of Delaware Original application Feb. 25, 1955, Ser. No. 490,529, now Patent No. 2,940,637, dated June 14, 1960. Divided and this application Sept. 29, 1959, Ser. No. $43,235

2 Claims. (Cl. 221-236) This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 490,529 led February 25, 1955, now U.S. Patent No. 2,940,637.

The invention illustrated and described herein relates to apparatus for dispensing cleats to wirebound box-making machines of the type disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,304,510, issued December 8, 1942.

In such machines, properly assembled cleats and side material or slats are conveyed beneath a transverse bank of stapling mechanisms where they are stapled to longi-v tudinally extending binding wires to form wirebound box parts or complete wirebound box blanks. The cleats and other box part materials are conveyed through the machine by continuously moving conveyer bands having projecting push elements which engage them and maintain their properly assembled relation.

In making box4 blanks for wirebound boxes having oblong ends, two dilferent lengths of cleats are required, and these must be placed on the conveyer bauds inalternation. This considerably complicates the problem of mechanically feeding the cleats to the conveyor bands. U.S. Patent No. 2,658,631 discloses apparatus for feeding two different lengths of cleats from a single hopper. This apparatus, however, necessitates prearrangement of the cleats in the hopper with long and short cleats alternating.

The present invention provides a. cleat feeding apparatus which, rather than depending upon the `cleat pushing elements themselves to strip the cleats individually from the column of cleats in the hopper, includes means for dropping the cleats individually from the hopper at intervals precisely synchronized with the arrival below the hopper of the respective spaces between the cleat pushing elements. This not only avoids the difficulty with respect to frictional interlocking of the rough faces of the cleats which is involved in feeding the cleats lengthwise out of the hopper, and the attendant problems of multiple feeding, jamming, etc., but it also makes it possible to provide separate hoppers for each of two or more different lengths of cleat and thereby avoids prearrangement of the cleats, allowing them to be handled in multiple.

In the drawings:

FIGURE l is an elevational view of the inner face of a cleat dispensing device embodying principles of the present invention showing co-acting mechanism for dispensing cleats at selected intervals.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken the line 2--2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an end elevation of the apparatus viewed from the end which appears at the right FIGURE l.

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view of the apparatus shown in FIGURES 1 to 3.

As shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the apparatus is supported by upstanding mem-bers96 at its opposite ends, said members 96 having flanged bases 9S which are secured to the upper face of angle member A. Attached to the inner face of each upstanding member 96, in position to engage the ends of the column of cleats in the hopper and guide their descent, are flat members 100 having at their lower ends inwardly projecting -feet 102,

as in the inner faces of which are bevelled to fit flushly against in the hopper.

Fastened to the left-hand faces of the two opstanding members, 96 as viewed in FIGURE 3, is an elongated, reverse L-shaped member 14M whose base portion 106 is channel shaped to receive and guide the cleats as they are dropped therein and pushed therealong. The vertical wall 103 of this member 164 is reduced in height for a portion of its length, as shown in FIGURE 1, beginning at R, to align it with the upper surface of a bracket (FIGURES 2 and 3) which is secured to the rear face of the member 164. As may be seen in FIGURE 2, these aligned surfaces serve as alower support for the column of cleats in the hoper.

Attached to the bracket 110 and extending horizontally outward therefrom is a skeletal framework, bestV shown in FIGURE 4 and comprising bars 112 and 114, which supports a solenoid 116. The armature 118 of this solenoid 116 is pivotally connected by short link members 120 to a pair of horizontal arms 122 which are pivotally mounted on bolts 124 threaded into bracket 110. These arms are normally maintained in a retracted position, Ashown in full lines in FIGURE 4, by a pair of tension springs 126 (FIGURE 4) one end'of each of said springs being fastened to a stud 12S` threaded into the headed end i of the arm 122 while its other end is fastened to a stud 132 threaded into the upper surface of bar 114.

At either end of the apparatus, fastened to the inner faces of the upstanding members 96, are plate members 134, each of which supports at its outer face a linkage assembly including a short link member 136, one end of which is pivotally fastened at to the armature 142 of a solenoid 144 which is mounted within a cutout area 146 of the plate 134 and fastened thereto by an end plate 148.

Supported at the lower corner of each linkage is a head member 15) bearing a iin 152 which projects downwardly therefrom at an oblique angle to lit ilushly against the mitered adjacent end of the cleat. f

As may be seen in FIGURE 1, the fin members 152 are at a level slightly below that of the bevelled feet 102 of the members litt, so that the bottom cleat in the hopper may be pushed readily by the arms 122 laterally off the support formed by the aligned top surfaces of bracket 116 and the cut-away portion of the vertical wall 108 and onto the fin members 152.

The solenoids 144 and 116 are respectively controlled by a pair of electric switches 154 and 156 (FIGURES 1 and 4) mounted adjacent the conveyer band C on brackets 158 which are adjustably spaced apart lon a parallel pair of bars 160 by clamping elements 164 and 166. The bars 160 are fastened at each end to bosses 162 which are secured to the inner face of the angle member B. Each of the brackets 158 supports aspring nger 15S the free end 170 of which projects outwardly into the path of the clamping lugs 172 of the control blocks S (FIGURE 4) on the conveyer band C.

The operation of this apparatus is as follows:

A column of cleats is stored in the hopper which is defined by the dat members 100 and the vertical bars 174 and 176 (FIGURES 2 and 3), and anl additional cleat is positioned on the' tins 152. At the outset of operation, the latter cleat may be placed by hand on the hns 152, or the switch 156 may be actuated man# ually to cause the arms 122 to move the bottom cleat in the hopper onto the fin members 152 in the manner described hereinafter. The extent of'this outward movement of the bottom cleat is controlled by stop ngers 178 attached to the bottom ends of the hopper vertical bars 174.

As the conveyer band C continuously moves in the direction indicated by the arrow T in FIGURE 4, the clamping lug 172 of conveyer band block S engages and depresses the free end 170 of the spring nger 168 adjacent the iirst electric switch 154 and actuates the switch to energize the solenoids 144 and cause their armatures 142 to be retracted. This moves the linkage members mounted on the plate 134 from their position shown by broken lines 180 in FIGURE l to that shown by dotdash lines 182, causing the members 150 and their fins 152 to swing outwardly from engagement with the mitered ends of the cleat resting thereon, permitting the cleat to drop into the channel-shaped base portion 106 of member 104, in the space between an adjacent pair of cleat spacing members P (FIGURES 1 and 2).

Continued movement of the conveyer band C causes the clamp lug 172 of control block S to contact the free end 170 of the spring finger 16S adjacent the second electric switch 156 and momentarily actuate this switch. This results in energizing solenoid 116, retracting its armature 118 and moving the arms 122 from their position shown by full lines 184 in FIGURE 4 to the position indicated by dot-dash lines 186. Thus, the bottom cleat is pushed from beneath the column of cleats and onto the tin members 152 (FIGURES 2 and 4), which meantime will have been returned to their initial position by the tension spring 188. The arms 122 are thereafter returned to their initial position by the tension springs 126, allowing the column of cleats to drop downwardly to fill the space vacated by removal of the bottom cleat. The apparatus is thus readied for a repetition of the cycle just described.

The continuously moving conveyer bands C carry a number of the control blocks S properly spaced so as to actuate the electric switches `154 and 156 at the precise times required to cause cleats to be deposited into the spaces between the cleat spacing members P.

From the foregoing description, it will be understood that the invention provides a practical apparatus for reliably feeding cleats of different lengths into their proper respective positions on the rapidly moving conveyer bands. It will therefore be appreciated that the aforementioned and other desirable objects have been achieved. However, it should be emphasized that the particular embodiments of the invention are intended as merely illustrative and not as restrictive of the invention.

I claim:

l. Apparatus for dispensing cleats to a box-part making machine, comprising a motor-driven conveyor band having secured to and projecting therefrom cleat pushing elements spaced apart along said conveyor band to define spaces for receiving said cleats lengthwise, a hopper for holding a generally vertical column of said cleats, support means at the lower end of said hopper for supporting said column of cleats, a pair of cleat engaging members mounted near the lower corners of said hopper for movement into position to engage the ends of one of said cleats and support the same above the path of said cleat pushing elements, a pusher member mounted adjacent the lower end of said hopper for movement to engage the bottom cleat in said column and push it laterally out of said hopper and onto said cleat engaging members, means for actuating said pusher member to engage said bottom cleat and push it laterally from its position on said support means onto said cleat engaging members and for thereafter retracting said cleat engaging members from engagement with the ends of said cleat to permit said cleat to drop downwardly in synchronism with the arrival beneath said cleat engaging members of the respective cleat spaces defined by said cleat pushing elements.

2. Apparatus for dispensing cleats to a box-part making machine, comprising a motor-driven conveyor band having secured to and projecting therefrom cleat pushing elements spaced apart along said conveyor band to define spaces for receiving said cleats lengthwise, a hopper for holding a generally vertical column of said cleats, a fixed support at the lower end of said hopper for supporting said column of cleats, a pair of cleat engaging members mounted near the lower corners of and at one side of said hopper and above the path of said cleat pushing elements for movement into and out of position to support said cleats, a pusher member mounted adjacent the lower end of said hopper for movement to engage the bottom cleat in said column and push it laterally out of said hopper and onto said cleat engaging members, a first electrically operated means for causing such movement of said pusher member, switch actuating lugs secured to and projecting from said conveyor band in predetermined relation to said cleat pushing elements, a first electrical switch connected to control the operation of said first electrically operated means and mounted adjacent said conveyer band for actuation by said switch actuating lugs, a second electrically operated means for retracting said cleat engaging members from engagement with the ends of the cleat resting thereon to pe mit said cleat to drop downwardly, a second electrical switch connected to control the operation of said second electrically operated means and mounted adjacent said conveyer band in spaced relation to said first electrical switch for actuation by said switch actuating lugs in synchronisrn with the arrival beneath said cleat engaging members of the respective cleat spaces defined by said cleat pushing elements, whereby said cleats are first pushed laterally out of said hopper and then dropped into said cleat spaces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,580,257 Tacchella Dec. 25, 1951 2,731,131 Shannon Jan. 17, 1956 2,827,201 Kingsley Mar. 18, 1958 2,917,203 Hardin Dec. 15, 1959 

